Smash hit

Fifa's controversial proposal is different from a "home-grown players" rule proposed by Uefa, European football's governing body.

Uefa defines home-grown players as team members who, regardless of age or nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the national association for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21.

The Commission has approved the Uefa arrangement because, says Brussels, it contains no player conditions based on nationality.

Spidla said: "Compared with the intentions announced by Fifa to impose the so-called '6-plus-5 rule', which is directly discriminatory and therefore incompatible with the EU law, the "home-grown players" rule proposed by Uefa seems to me to be proportionate and to comply with the principle of free movement of workers."

"Inside the congress of Fifa today we had sunshine on different items, important ones," Blatter said. "Because today we were somewhere in the crossroad between the interests of clubs and national teams, and the congress of Fifa has given very clear indications of where we have to go.

"Together with the chairman of Fifa's football committee, Mr Franz Beckenbauer, and Michel Platini, we come to this resolution. The congress was very happy in a result of overwhelming majority, with 155 votes in favour and five against. 155 yes and five no. It is an overwhelming support to this resolution.

"The Fifa president has asked, together with the Uefa president, to explore - and explore is not to discuss, it's to go in depth - within the limits of the law.

"The application of such a system would start only at the end of 2010 and we would start progressively with four, five and six.

"Even if it is necessary, because we have had Manchester United winning the European Champions League with six players eligible for the Great Britain team at the beginning of the match, so we are not far away.

"Chelsea had four. Zenit St Petersburg, when they played Glasgow Rangers, they had up to seven. Glasgow had four or five.

"We are not far away from a situation. Speaking about it is illegal? For whom? For when? If there is a law, a law can be amended.

"I have already now a meeting with the speaker of the European parliament - chairman as we say, but you say in the British version, the speaker - on June 5 in the afternoon in Brussels, as he said, to explore now the ways.

"If he says to explore the ways, it's not to say 'stop it', so you see we're on the right track."

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